The Thurles men never got out of third gear but were still a considerable degree ahead of their opponents who, to their credit, battled all the way.

The major difference in the first half was a seventh-minute Denis Maher goal, well taken after he went on a mazy run through the Éire Óg rearguard.

Up to that, and indeed afterwards, Éire Óg gave the Mid champions plenty to think about, with Paudie O’Dwyer at centre-forward offering much resistance on the scoreboard.

He bagged 0-8 in the first half, but Sarsfields had a more impressive spread of scorers with six on the board by the interval, including both midfielders and centre-back Pádraic Maher.

Éire Óg could only manage 1-2 in the second half — the goal coming right at the death from a pass from centre-back Conor O’Brien, who had moved upfield, to sub Michael McGrath, who finished well.

Sarsfields had the game well wrapped up by then, with an Aidan McCormack goal in the 24th minute putting the seal on an impressive win for them, which saw Pa Bourke grab 0-6, Johnny Enright 0-5, and Lar Corbett 0-4.

Based on this 16-point win over Kildangan it will take an exceptional side to get the better of Thurles Sarsfields in this year’s championship.

On Sunday evening in Semple Stadium Sarsfields fired 2-19 from play, with nine different players contributing to that tally, restricted Kildangan to 1-5 and still looked capable of stepping up their performance significantly if required to do so. Indeed, Thurles Sarsfields would have enjoyed a more significant margin of victory had Kildangan ‘keeper Darragh Egan not made a series of stunning saves.

Séamus Gleeson and John Kelly are engaged in an interesting project in Kildangan, a project defined by stick passing and movement, but Sunday’s encounter in Thurles illustrated just how far they have to travel. Joe Gallagher, Martin Minehan, Darragh Egan and Gerry Slattery were in top form for the men from the north

Mid Final Report

County man Pa Bourke hit a whopping six goals as Thurles Sarsfields blitzed holders Loughmore-Castleiney in a disappointingly one-sided Mid Tipperary senior hurling final at Templemore.

A huge crowd attended expecting a classic but inside ten minutes, Bourke had bagged three goals for Sarsfields from 20m frees leaving a shell-shocked Loughmore trailing 3-4 to 0-2.

And it didn’t stop there as, in injury time before the interval, he added two more to put Sarsfields in an almost unassailable position leading 5-7 to 1-5. Loughmore’s sole consolation was Noel McGrath’s goal in the 21st minute.

A mighty effort was required of the holders in the second half but it didn’t materialise. Loughmore scored five points to Sarsfields two but Pa Bourke’s sixth goal in the 46th minute ended all possibility of a Loughmore rally. Sub Aidan McCormack banged home goal number seven in the 22nd minute, and though Noel McGrath netted for Loughmore four minutes later, the game was well and truly over.

Bourke was withdrawn shortly before the finish and received a standing ovation for a scoring performance that will have historians scouring the record books.

It was by no means a one-man show however. Padraic Maher, Michael O’Brien, Michael Gleeson, Michael Cahill, Ger O’Grady and sub Aidan McCormack all made significant contributions.

Loughmore-Castleiney will view this as a freak result and hope for better things in the county championship. Veteran David Kennedy, Liam McGrath, Noel McGrath, and Tom King all tried manfully to stem the tide.